Today's proceedings--the final hearing in Palestinian activist Amer Jubran's immigration case--saw the complete collapse of all pretenses to fairness, justice and objectivity. After being denied adequate time to review fifty pages of government doccuments submitted a week before his final trial, after being denied his fundamental right to be represented by effective council, and after being compelled to testify without any legal representation at all, after realizing there is no possibility for due process in this court, Amer decided to request of the court that he be granted "voluntary departure" from the United States. In March 2004, unless the government continues its persecution of him, he will return to his home in Jordan. Had the trial gone forward, it would have allowed the government to prolong the use of these proceedings as a means of conducting an illegitimate investigation not only into details of Amer's life irrelevant to the merits of the immigration case, but also, more frighteningly, into the lives of many other immigrants who are vulnerable to government harassment. Faced with this nightmare logic, coupled
with the prospect of an endless, boundless investigation that would threaten the vulnerable, Amer felt that his only choice was to request voluntary departure.[ full story | Amer Jubran Defense Committee ]